Post WW1 Germany Without Hyperinflation?

[SlickWilly]

Could this lead to no WW2, amongst other things? The European Central bank today which is based in Frankfurt and essentially bossed by Berlin with a little assistance from the French has an obsession with preventing inflation ( so no quantitative easing ie wholescale printing of money, unlike the FED and the UK's treasury ) , this frothing at the mouth fixation is at the level of a Paedophile getting aroused passing by an elementary school, in its insane perverse intensity! It is said to originate from German terror of its never to be forgotten hyperinflationary past from the 1920s, when it started printing worthless currency to pay war reparations!
What sort of world would we have if Germany never had inflation at astronomical numbers? Indeed if they were never forced to pay war reparations at massive levels? Which BTW they have just recently finished paying!

[SlickWilly]

Surely it could have changed many things?

[Faeelin]

It would, but how do you stop the Germans from being forced to pay reparations, and how do you stop the German government from deciding hyperinflation was the way out?

The French and British have just lost hundreds of thousands of people to defeat a German despotism bent on subduing Europe. It's not likely for them to go easy, no?

[Anderman]

I am not sure how strong the link between the hyperinflation and the reparation is, the french, brits, belgiums etc. didn´t want paper money as reparation the wanted gold or other stuff.

But without hyperinflation the middle class would do better and there were this stories about Beamte (government workers) had to drive taxi or do other things for a living. So without the inflation the whole republic could be more stable because the elites are more loyal.

[wiking]

Originally Posted by SlickWilly

Could this lead to no WW2, amongst other things? The European Central bank today which is based in Frankfurt and essentially bossed by Berlin with a little assistance from the French has an obsession with preventing inflation ( so no quantitative easing ie wholescale printing of money, unlike the FED and the UK's treasury ) , this frothing at the mouth fixation is at the level of a Paedophile getting aroused passing by an elementary school, in its insane perverse intensity! It is said to originate from German terror of its never to be forgotten hyperinflationary past from the 1920s, when it started printing worthless currency to pay war reparations!
What sort of world would we have if Germany never had inflation at astronomical numbers? Indeed if they were never forced to pay war reparations at massive levels? Which BTW they have just recently finished paying!

The major problem was the way that Germany had to pay for the war. By 1916 they had started to print money, which, when coupled with fixing prices on certain good and the resulting black market with its astronomical prices, meant that Germany was well inflated before 1919 anyway. It just got comical in 1923 with the occupation of the Ruhr and the resulting money print out to pay the French/spite them by wrecking their currency.
So you'd almost have to prevent the war/have it end in a negotiation, which means things are radically different for a number of other reasons. Unfortunately this is not an issue that you can just take away one or two factors and keep modern history the same. It would create major butterflies that will change the present so much as to prevent the EU from every being created.

Short answer, yes, Germany won't fall into extremism without hyperinflation and probably won't start WW2. If it results from Germany not having to pay reparations, then they still have inflation, which would get pretty bad, but not to the level of OTL. And WW2 would assuredly be butterflied away.
It would also mean Germany is much stronger economically postwar and will have a strong interest in preventing anymore wars, which interestingly could lead to a type of EU, but more along the lines of Mittel Europa than the EU, because there is probably little reason to expect that the French and British will be interested in reconciling with the Germans and their satellites or allies.

[El Pip]

Originally Posted by Faeelin

how do you stop the German government from deciding hyperinflation was the way out?

Keep the French in Dusseldorf. Germany didn't start defaulting on their payments (which were affordable, Hitler spent far more than the cost of the reparations on re-arming Germany) till they left.

If the French don't leave, they wont have to come back when Germany stops paying, there is no 'passive resistance' in the Rhine and the German government doesn't have to start printing money to pay for it.

Of course then you hit the problem of the French being in Dusseldorf well into the 1920s which will cause other problems, but probably not hyperinflation. Does a problem count as 'avoided' if you instead substitute it with a different problem?

[Joseph Solis in Australia]

Have the Treaty of Versailles kind to Germany.

[Devolved]

Originally Posted by SlickWilly

Could this lead to no WW2, amongst other things? What sort of world would we have if Germany never had inflation at astronomical numbers? Indeed if they were never forced to pay war reparations at massive levels? Which BTW they have just recently finished paying!

The gap between hyperinflation in 1923 and the Nazis coming to power in 1933 is too great to make a difference I think. The Nazis came to power as a result of the depression not hyperinflation.

The Hyperinflation of 1923 is now just a story that some economists use to scare high spending politicians.

[RookieHistorian]

Have the Entente listen to Woodrow Wilson and be nicer to Germany by having the Treaty of Versailles be less harsh. Also, don't blaim the war completely one Germany.

I think World War II would still have taken place, but it would have been started by the Russians instead.